Deathscapes

Ward 7c - Breaches of Rights

A Fatal Zone of Indistinction: Breaches of Rights with Impunity vs the Law of the Land

‘I am satisfied that the deceased was subjected to degrading treatment and he was not treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person. There has been, therefore, a breach of the ICCPR. (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights).’

Alastair Hope (State Coroner)

In the disjunction between the Coroners Act 1996 that precludes anything other than an ‘open finding’ and Coroner Hope’s conclusion that Mr Ward was ‘subject to a breach of the ICCPR’ there lies a telling zone of indistinction, an unacknowledged gap between national and international law, between criminal conviction and breaches of civil and human rights. Justice for Mr Ward, as for many other casualties of state violence, remains consigned to this zone of indistinction and inaction.